Phantom Thread premiered in New York City on December 11, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 25, 2017.[8] The film received praise for its acting, screenplay, direction, musical score, costume design, and production values. It was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2017.[9]

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In 1954 London, renowned fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock creates dresses for members of high society. His charisma and genius are matched by his obsessive, controlling personality. Cyril, his sister, manages the day-to-day operations of his fashion house and has significant influence over his life. Reynolds is haunted by the death of their mother, and stitches hidden messages into the linings of the dresses he makes.

After designing a new gown for a revered client, the Countess, Reynolds visits a restaurant in the countryside and becomes interested in a waitress, Alma. He asks her to have dinner with him, and she accepts. Their relationship develops, and she moves in with him, becoming his model, muse and lover. Cyril initially distrusts Alma but comes to respect her willfulness and determination.

At first, Alma enjoys being a part of Reynolds' work, but he proves aloof and hard to please, and they bicker. When Alma tries to please him with a romantic dinner, Reynolds lashes out, saying he will not tolerate deviations from the routines he has worked hard to perfect.

Alma poisons Reynolds' tea with mushrooms gathered outside his country house. As he readies a wedding gown for a Belgian princess, Reynolds collapses, damaging the dress and forcing his staff to work all night to repair it. He becomes gravely ill and has hallucinations of his mother. Alma nurses him back to health. He asks her to marry him; she accepts.

Reynolds and Alma soon start bickering again. As Reynolds feels his work is suffering, he concludes it may be time to send her away. Alma responds by making Reynolds a poisoned omelette. As he chews his first bite, she informs him that she wants him weak and vulnerable with only her to take care of him. Reynolds swallows the omelette and tells her to kiss him before he is sick.

As Reynolds lies ill, Alma imagines their future with children, a rich social life, and her running the dressmaking business as a partner. She acknowledges that while there may be challenges ahead, their love and their new arrangement can overcome them.

Anderson became interested in the fashion industry after reading about designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.[15] Lead character, Reynolds Woodcock, is said to be loosely inspired by English-American fashion designer, Charles James.[16]

Filming also took place at the Grandhotel Giessbach, Brienz Switzerland, Lake Brienz and Brienzer Rothorn. The New Year's Eve party was filmed at the Blackpool Tower ballroom with approximately 500 supporting artistes.[citation needed]

It was reported in June 2017 that Anderson would be serving as his own cinematographer on the film as his regular cinematographer Robert Elswit was unavailable during production.[23] However, Anderson refuted the claim in November, stating that there is no official credit for the cinematography and that it was a "collaborative effort".[15] Anderson and his lighting collaborator, Michael Bauman, pushed their 35mm film stock and filled the frame with haze in order to "dirty up" the image; according to Bauman, "One of the first things [Paul] said was, 'Look, this cannot look like The Crown.' That was a big thing. When people think of a period movie it becomes this beautifully polished, amazingly photographed—I mean, The Crown looks beautiful—but super clean, gorgeous light, and he was clear it couldn't look like that."[24]

Phantom Thread grossed $21.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $26.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $47.3 million, against a production budget of $35 million.[5]

After three weeks in limited release, where it made a total of $2.8 million, the film was added to 834 theaters on January 19, 2018 (for a total of 896) and grossed $3.8 million over the weekend, finishing 12th at the box office.[25] The subsequent weekend, following the announcement of its six Oscar nominations, and having added an additional 125 theaters, the film grossed $2.9 million.[26]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91% based on 276 reviews, and an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Phantom Thread's finely woven narrative is filled out nicely by humor, intoxicating romantic tension, and yet another impressively committed performance from Daniel Day-Lewis."[27] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."[28]

The A.V. Club's A. A. Dowd gave the film an A−, calling it a "charitable and even poignantly hopeful take on the subject [of being in a relationship with an artist]" and said that "in the simple, refined timelessness of its technique, Phantom Thread is practically a love letter to classic aesthetic values—cinematic, sartorial, or otherwise."[29]

Guardian writer Mark Kermode gave the film five stars, describing it as "a deftly spun yarn," and praised Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, calling his role as a "perfect fit [in a] beautifully realised tale of 50s haute couture."[30]

Christy Lemire of the LAFCA placed the film second on her list of ten best films of 2017, describing it as "captivating" and "one of Paul Thomas Anderson's absolute best," as well as singling out Jonny Greenwood's score as "intoxicating."[31]

Michael Wood, writing for the London Review of Books, saw the film as unsuccessfully referencing other gothic films such as Rebecca from the 1940s. He wrote: "Can we imagine a long future for this couple? The film can, and does, but the picture is so hackneyed − pram, baby, walk in the park − that it has to be a dream, or an irony."[32]